Toddlers are very sensitive psychologically. Many toddlers experience night terrors and they find it difficult to deal with. Many parents have a hard time while dealing with night terrors. A night terror is when the child starts getting a bit restless and anxious while he/she is sleeping. It usually lasts for about ten to fifteen minutes after that the child get backs to normal. Dealing with night terrors is a very sensitive process and the parent has to be very careful. There are many ways to stop or prevent night terrors in children. Here are 11 effective ways to prevent night terrors in children:

11 Must Know Ways to Prevent Night Terrors in Toddlers

Avoid waking up your child.

Waking up your child during a night terror can be really scary for your child. A night terror is forgotten as soon as the child wakes up. If you wake up your child during the night terror it can be exhausting and frightening for your child, as it is remembered by the child and the child’s sleep gets disturbed. Thus, the parent should avoid waking up their child so as to relax the child during the night terror episode.

Tuck your child to bed on time.

After the dinner, force your child to sleep. If he/she doesn’t listen then tuck him/her in the bed. After you tuck your child to bed, it will take hardly 5 mins for him/her to sleep. This helps in avoiding the bad habit of waking up late. It helps in developing a routine and helps the child to relax. It helps in developing a sound sleep and leads to discipline.

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Keep your child away from obstacles that can disturb your child’s sleep.

The disturbance caused while sleeping can lead to night terrors. While tucking your child make sure there is no obstacle or any disturbing object that might interfere with your child’s sleep. Many children have nightmares due to a disturbance in their sleep.

Narrate a bed time story to your child.

Narrating a bed time story helps the child to get engrossed in the characters and the story,  Because of this, the child will have a sound sleep. The child will sleep early, and this will help in avoiding late night sleeping habits. This practice will help the child to relax and sleep without being tensed about anything, thus reducing night terrors.

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Ensuring that your child sleeps sufficiently is a good way of preventing night terrors.

In some children lack of sleep is the main reason for night terrors. Ensuring that your child sleeps properly is the best way to prevent night terrors. Lack of sleep can sometimes result in night terrors. These things can help the child pile up all the problems and result in night terrors.

Try waking up your child before the night terror.

Notice the pattern of night terrors that occur to your child. If the pattern is continued then try waking up your child before the tentative night terror starts.  You can wake up your child before the night terror starts and then make him sleep. This will help in stopping the night terrors which occur at a particular point of time.

Sleep with your child for some time.

Night terrors usually occur in the first half of the sleep. As soon as your child goes to sleep, be with him/her for some time. This is because if the night terror occurs you will be with your child at that point in time. This will make your child help handle and deal with the problems he/she faces.

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Stop your child from waking up till late.

Routine in life is the answer to all the problems. Make a planner for your child and keep him/her busy all day. This will help your child to stay busy, eat and sleep at the right time. Doing things on time is very important for toddlers and kids as they learn discipline out of it. When your child is busy the whole day he/she would sleep at the right time. This routine is good for preventing night terrors. Make sure to break the routine if it gets monotonous, by doing some fun activities with your child.

Make sure that your child takes the right amount of rest.

Night terrors are also a result of exhaustion and tiredness. Parents should make sure that their child takes the right amount of rest the whole day and avoids tiring activities.

Calm and soothe your child.

A night terror can be a very frightening experience for your child. He/she might develop some anxiety. The best cure is to calm down your child. Soothe him/her with your calming voice. This will help your child in dealing with anxiety and irrational thoughts. He/she might get distracted and deviated from the awful memory of the night terror. Saying soothing things like, ‘calm down, I am here, nobody’s going to hurt you and everything will be fine.”  These words can help your child to calm down a lot during a night terror.

Set relaxing surroundings.

Make sure that the surroundings of the child are well put to handle the stressful night terror episode. Make sure that the room is well dark, so that the child sleeps in a quiet way, without any harmful object. This will ensure your child a sound sleep. Night terrors can sometimes happen when your child isn’t well. The environment should be calm, serene and relaxing. If your child is suffering from fever and cold, this will help in making you’re your child feel calm and well. Make sure that the whole room is calm, and there is darkness after switching off the lights.

Thus, night terrors are normal. It does not have any serious complication neither it is harmful to the kid. They can be easily dealt with the help of all the ideas listed above. It might seem that your child is awake but he/she is not, the child might harm anything. It usually lasts for a small amount of time.

Reference

https://valleysleepcenter.com › Sleep Disorder

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/night-terrors/